In recent years, various video websites gain ever-increasing popularity. People can select videos that they prefer from the video websites, and play the selected videos by using a player in a mobile terminal.
Advertisements are usually inserted before the videos are played in the video websites; therefore, an existing method for playing a multimedia file includes: acquiring, by a mobile terminal, an advertisement list and a video, successively playing advertisements in the advertisement list according to an advertisement playback policy, and playing the video after the advertisements in the advertisement list are played.
If it is required to skip the advertisements, a user needs to operate the mobile terminal, which wears down devices of the mobile terminal and shortens the service life of the mobile terminal.